


If You Need a Hand to Hold

by RightNow2808



Category: Tennis RPF
Genre: Fedal - Freeform, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-02-01 13:06:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12705603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RightNow2808/pseuds/RightNow2808
Summary: Rafa is sick and Roger comes to take care of him.





	If You Need a Hand to Hold

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt. I hope you like it :) (or a little something I've written to cheer myself up)
> 
> Ahh, let's call this a 2017 era, but it could be any time really.

Rafa was in the middle of another explosive sneeze, when someone knocked on the door. He groaned, wanting to be left alone as he reached over to get another tissue from the nightstand. If he ignored them for long enough, perhaps the person would go away. He sneezed again, his eyes watering with the force of it. He wiped at his eyes and blew his nose. 

Whoever was by the door knocked again. Rafa cursed in Spanish, but still pushed the warm blankets away and climbed out of the bed. His teeth started chattering immediately and he gave another helpless groan, taking the comforter and wrapping it tightly around himself. He sniffled, his sinuses burning as he did so, feeling like he sucked his snot right up into his brain. He waddled towards the door of his hotel room, having to stop to lean on the wall when the world turned around in front of his eyes. 

He finally made it to the door and got ready to yell at whoever dared to disturb his rest – probably Feli or Nando – just what he needed. He was at complete loss of words when he unlocked and opened the door and found Roger standing there. His head went completely blank, but he had to sneeze again. He looked up towards the ceiling light to make it easier and sneezed into the crook of his elbow. Tears slipped from his eyes.

“Ahh, sorry. Hola, Rogi,” he rasped, wincing when he heard his voice. His sore throat protested. 

Roger seemed incredibly fond of the situation until he heard Rafa’s voice and he frowned. 

“Hey, Rafa. Feli texted me.” 

Rafa wiped the tears away with the corner of his blanket, sniffling again. 

“I am sick!” he exclaimed, sounding completely offended. “I am never sick. Ah, come in, Roger, but not too close.” Rafa let Roger inside and locked the door. He looked down at the pile of tissues that was forming beside the bed. “Sorry about mess. What did Feli say?”

Roger stood quite stiffly in the big room, keeping himself far away from the bed as Rafa told him too. He came immediately after Feli texted him, but now wasn’t too sure what mood Rafa was in and how he could help. 

“Just told me you were sick and that you don’t let anyone in. What’s about that?” he asked as Rafa climbed back into bed, surrounding himself with all the blankets and pillows there were. 

“Doctor say I need rest. I am resting. I taked – took… I took a pill.” He motioned towards the nightstand where a box of Aspirin was standing beside a box of tissues and an empty cup of what Roger assumed was tea. “I gonna get better before tomorrow, Rogi, no worries.”

“Oh… Do you want me to-“

“No, no… No, I like you, you can stay. But not too close.”

Roger smiled fondly. He wasn’t quite sure if he should find this situation cute, but he did. Rafa’s hair was ruffled, his nose red and eyes wet and Roger just wanted to wrap him into a bear hug and never let him go. 

“I think you might have a fever, if you’re this cold,” Roger said. He carefully sat down at the foot of the bed. He found Rafa’s feet under the blanked and touched it gently. 

“I no have fever!” he exclaimed, looking frightened. 

“It’s nothing bad, Rafa,” Roger said, barely suppressing a smile. “It just means your body temperature is too high.”

“Ahhh, una fiebre, si,” Rafa said after a moment of thinking, relaxing back into the pillows. “You think?” he asked and touched his own forehead. 

“Wait, let me check,” Roger said and came closer. 

“No, Roger, not too close!” 

“Oh, shut up, I’m not gonna get sick,” Roger said with a roll of his eyes. He pressed his palm against Rafa’s sweaty forehead, feeling it burning. He made a soft disapproving sound. “You should probably  
take another pill. Wait, I’ll get you some water.”

“You think? I don’t like pills,” Rafa asked, staring at the little box of pills suspiciously. 

“Yes. Take it out of the package. It won’t eat you.” Roger stood up and went into the spacey bathroom. There were glasses beside the sink and he took one, filling it up with lukewarm water. When he came back into the room, Rafa was right about to sneeze and Roger found himself wanting to take a picture. 

Rafa was looking into the light and started slapping his thighs when he couldn’t sneeze. He frowned when the feeling passed, generally looking as if his life had betrayed him.  
“I can’t sneeze,” he said sadly, sniffling. He reached for another tissue, blew his nose and then carelessly threw it on the floor. 

“I’m sure there will be other chances,” Roger replied. Rafa sat up straighter and took the glass from Roger’s hand. 

“Okay, I take another pill. If I die, it is your… hm, I forgetted… forgot the word. It is your, what is it, Roger?”

“My fault.”

“Ahh, yes.”

“You won’t die.”

“No! I don’t want to die, Roger!” 

Roger bit into his knuckle to stop from laughing. Since they started dating, Rafa never caught a cold or was sick – goddamned Spaniards. This was a completely new side of him to Roger. He wasn’t too  
concentrated, it seemed and it was adorable. 

“Just take the pill.” Rafa obeyed. The pill was already in his hand and he swallowed it with a disgusted look on his face. “Now lie still and get some sleep.” 

Roger walked to the other side of the bed, kicking off his shoes on the way. He took off hoodie. Rafa followed his movements with watery eyes. 

“What are you doing?” he asked, stopping in the middle of the last word to erupt in a fit of coughing. Roger frowned because he didn’t like the sound at all. 

“I’m going to stay with you, of course,” he replied. Rafa almost looked scared at his words. 

“What?! No, you can’t! I gonna get you sick too. Not good!” 

“I don’t want to hear another word from your sore throat,” Roger replied. He didn’t actually expect Rafa to listen to him, but Rafa wanted to get better badly enough to listen to everyone with more experiences in health than him. 

Roger lay down on the other side of the bed, throwing an arm around Rafa’s shivering form.

“I love you, you know?” he asked and nosed along Rafa’s cheek. 

“Si, I love you too, but not too close,” he said. Roger laughed, but granted Rafa’s wish and pulled away a bit. 

“Go to sleep,” Roger repeated. “I’ll be here until practice.” Rafa grunted something in response, but a barely visible smile was present upon his chapped lips. His eyes closed, but Roger could tell he would need some time to fall asleep. He pulled a phone from his pocket and texted Mirka, before opening Twitter and scrolling through his feed. 

Not twenty minutes later, when Roger was almost sure that the younger man fell asleep, Rafa whined.

“I’m hot, Roger,” he moaned. Roger looked up from his phone. Rafa was staring at him with only one eye opened. 

“That’s good,” Roger replied, “it means your temperature is falling.”

“Oh, okay. But can I put one blanket away? And can you move more away? Roger, you are heating me!” Rafa accused him, a pout settling on his lips. Roger pulled one of the four blankets piled around Rafa away and then another one when Rafa wasn’t happy immediately and obediently scooted away from Rafa. 

“Like this? Are you comfortable?”

“Ah, si. I feel better now,” Rafa announced after another fit of coughing. 

“Oh, Rafa. I’m going to make you another cup of tea.”

“I don’t like tea,” Rafa protested. “It burns my mouth.”

“That’s why you wait that it cools a little before you drink it.”

“But doctor said I have to drink it hot.”

“Yes, but not scorching hot, Jesus Christ.”

“Oh…”

Roger rolled his eyes, but patted Rafa’s cheek gently, before he stood up and walked over to the cupboard with a kettle and a box with various packages of tea and coffee on it. Cups and glasses with the hotel logo on them were there too. Roger boiled the water and choose a camomile tea bag – perhaps it would make Rafa sleep. He hummed softly to himself as he added honey – to soothe his sore throat. 

When he turned back towards the bed with the tea ready in his hand, Rafa was sleeping. His mouth was open, gentle snores that almost sounded painful leaving through his lips. He was drooling a little which really didn’t come as surprise if his throat was hurting. His face was red and Roger could see droplets of sweat running down his face from the hairline. 

Roger smiled fondly. He put the cup on the nightstand and took the empty one to the bathroom to wash it later. He took one of the smaller towels and wetted it. He gently wiped Rafa’s forehead and cheeks. After checking the clock he decided to stay and see if Rafa’s fever went down and if it didn’t he would call his doctor. 

Rafa woke again when Roger was scrolling through his own Instagram account – deleting some of the pictures that seemed useless and updating one new one. 

“Rogi?” Rafa asked, his voice still raspy, but now laced with sleep too. 

“Good morning,” Roger replied and locked his phone, before putting it on the nightstand of his side of the bed. He rolled over to give a kiss to Rafa’s cheek that wasn’t as hot as before. This was good. “I  
made you tea. It should be cold enough not to burn your tongue now.”

“Thank you,” Rafa replied with a bright smile and propped himself up. He reached for the cup and with a shaky hand brought it to his lips. He took a tentative sip and then frowned. 

“It’s cold,” he said. 

“Yes, well, you slept for almost an hour. Do you want me to make you a new one?”

“No! I drink that!” Rafa declared and drank some more. “Ah, you make better tea than Titin. This one is very sweet. The one he made… it was very… ah, very… very bitter!” Rafa, excited that he got the word right, drank the tea up and put the cup back on the nightstand. “Your tea is very good. I need to pee now, though. I gonna go pee!” He pushed the duvets back and stood up, swaying for a second,  
before making it to the bathroom in an almost completely straight line. Roger couldn’t get the smile off his face. 

Roger listened carefully for any sounds of Rafa falling, but thankfully the Spaniard came back in one piece. He stretched his arms above his head. His shirt rode up, exposing golden skin above the waistband of his sweatpants. 

“I think I ready for practice now. I gonna call Toni!” 

Roger rolled his eyes. 

“Sit your ass back down. You’re not moving out of this room for today.”

“You can’t- you can’t… wait, I don’t know that word. Rogi, that’s not fair… oh, wait, you can’t command me!” 

“Rafa, look. Even if you feel better now, there’s a chance the fever will come back after the pill wears off. Besides you need to rest your throat and with the sounds you make on court that would be impossible.”

“Do you like my sounds?” Rafa asked, a smile curving on his lips, but then he remembered he was in a middle of a serious argument and frowned again. “Wait, no. I can not make sounds.” 

“No, there’s no way you’re practicing today. Go ask your doctor he will tell you the same.”

“I gonna ask Toni,” Rafa replied, already searching for his phone where he lost it somewhere in between all his blankets. 

“No, God, don’t call Toni.”

“He says me I can practice!”

“Yes, he probably will, but that’s not okay.” Roger found his phone, before Rafa did and held it out of Rafa’s reach. “Sit your scrawny ass down.”

“My ass is not scrawny!” Rafa protested. “I not know what this means, but is not scrawny!”

“No, it’s not,” Roger agreed, sneaking one glance at the curve of Rafa’s glorious backside. 

“Stop looking!” Rafa said.

“Okay, I will stop, but please come back to bed, Rafa. Please, I just want you to get enough rest that you will be one hundred percent tomorrow. One day without practice won’t hurt you, believe me.” 

Rafa who was half on Roger – trying to get his phone back – and half off the bed – avoiding the bed rest -, stilled. He seemed to be thinking for a moment. Finally, with a heavy sigh, he relaxed and fell on top of Roger.

“What happened to ‘not too close’?” asked Roger, but wrapped his arms around Rafa’s waist. 

“I gonna get you sick,” Rafa replied, his face tucked into Roger’s neck. “I gonna get you sick, because you no – not… don’t allow me to play.” Roger smiled, sliding his hand up Rafa’s back and running it through Rafa’s sweaty curls. 

“Okay,” he agreed softly and kissed Rafa’s forehead. He moved so that they were comfortably lying in the middle of the bed with Rafa half on top of Roger. When Rafa shivered, Roger immediately pulled one blanket over them both and he knew that the kiss Rafa pressed to the skin of his neck was his quiet thanks. 

FIN


End file.
